{"id":29492,"date":"2026-05-25T19:08:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T19:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/29492\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T19:08:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T19:08:16","slug":"spain-taking-no-real-madrid-players-to-world-cup-but-injured-yamal-and-williams-going","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/29492\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain taking no Real Madrid players to World Cup but injured Yamal and Williams going"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"FILE - Spain's Lamine Yamal attempts a shot on goal during a World Cup qualifying round Group E soccer match between Turkey and Spain at Konya Buyuksehir stadium, in Konya, Turkey, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025.\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofcv bgscv block bg-black mnh0px fill\"\/><\/p>\n<p>FILE &#8211; Spain&#8217;s Lamine Yamal attempts a shot on goal during a World Cup qualifying round Group E soccer match between Turkey and Spain at Konya Buyuksehir stadium, in Konya, Turkey, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Khalil Hamra\/AP Photo\/Khalil Hamra<img alt=\"FILE -Spain's Nico Williams eyes the ball prior the start of the Nations League final soccer match between Portugal and Spain at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, June 8, 2025.\" loading=\"lazy\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofcv bgscv block bg-black mnh0px fill\"\/><\/p>\n<p>FILE -Spain&#8217;s Nico Williams eyes the ball prior the start of the Nations League final soccer match between Portugal and Spain at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, June 8, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Matthias Schrader\/AP<\/p>\n<p>MADRID (AP) \u2014 Spain\u2019s World Cup squad does not include Real Madrid players for the first time though injured forwards Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams were picked on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Yamal and Williams suffered leg muscle injuries in the past month. However, coach Luis de la Fuente expects them to be fit for the start of soccer&#8217;s showcase.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are not going to speed up any process, we are in coordination with the clubs,\u201d De la Fuente said. \u201cThe information we have is that they will all be ready for the first or the second match. You always want to be careful, but if there&#8217;s a time when the players may want to take risks it&#8217;s at the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Spain opens its Group H campaign against Cape Verde on June 15 in Atlanta. It then faces Saudi Arabia on June 21 in Atlanta and Uruguay on June 26 in Guadalajara, Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Defender Dean Huijsen was among the Madrid players contending for Spain&#8217;s squad but he was left out.<\/p>\n<p>San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n<p>Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=sfchronicle.com\" data-link=\"native\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Add Preferred Source\" class=\"td300 cp f aic jcc disabled:cd wsn px24 y40px px16 py8 buttonSm fs13 xs:fs16 xs:buttonLg bg-primaryAccessible hover:o80 c-white disabled:bg-gray300 disabled:c-gray600 border bn tac br2\"><\/p>\n<p>Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t look at the clubs, these are national team players,&#8221; De la Fuente said. &#8220;The only thing I want is for them to be proud of representing the national team. I don&#8217;t look at it like maybe the fans may look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Madrid endured a second consecutive season without a major title while La Liga champion Barcelona has produced eight players in Spain&#8217;s squad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Madrid will have players at the World Cup for other nations, including France&#8217;s Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, Brazil&#8217;s Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior and England&#8217;s Jude Bellingham.<\/p>\n<p>Barcelona midfielder Ferm\u00edn L\u00f3pez, who broke his right foot this month, was sidelined for Spain as expected.<\/p>\n<p>Midfielder Mikel Merino, who played only once for Arsenal since injuring his foot in January, was back in the squad. Also included despite a recent injury was Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz.<\/p>\n<p>Spain\u2019s preparations will begin on Saturday. It plays warmup matches against Iraq on June 4 and Peru on June 9.<\/p>\n<p>It rebounded from a round-of-16 elimination by Morocco at the 2022 World Cup by winning Euro 2024 in Germany. La Roja also won the 2023 Nations League and was runner-up to Portugal in the 2025 edition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Spain hasn\u2019t gone past the last 16 in the World Cup since its lone title in 2010.<\/p>\n<p>Goalkeepers: Unai Sim\u00f3n (Athletic Bilbao), David Raya (Arsenal), Joan Garc\u00eda (Barcelona)<\/p>\n<p>Defenders: Marc Cucurella (Chelsea), Alejandro Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen), Marcos Llorente (Atletico Madrid), Pau Cubars\u00ed (Barcelona), Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Bilbao), Pedro Porro (Tottenham), Eric Garc\u00eda (Barcelona), Marc Pubill (Atletico Madrid)<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Midfielders: Rodri (Manchester City), Mart\u00edn Zubimendi (Arsenal), Pedri (Barcelona), Mikel Merino (Arsenal), Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz (Paris Saint-Germain), Gavi (Barcelona), \u00c1lex Baena (Atletico Madrid)<\/p>\n<p>Forwards: Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), Y\u00e9remi Pino (Crystal Palace), Mikel Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad), V\u00edctor Mu\u00f1oz (Osasuna), Borja Iglesias (Celta Vigo), Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao), Dani Olmo (Barcelona), Ferran Torres (Barcelona)<\/p>\n<p>___ AP soccer: <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup\" data-link=\"native\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FILE &#8211; Spain&#8217;s Lamine Yamal attempts a shot on goal during a World Cup qualifying round Group E&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4211,14719,11977,14717,10875,939,7413,1882,927,14718,934,728,721,91,7980,1416,2900,2920,247,368,4690,9191,1562,664,7842,1558,14716,1437,17,14715,5842,3691,852],"class_list":["post-29492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-alejandro-grimaldo","tag-alex-fernandez","tag-atlanta","tag-aymeric-laporte","tag-borja-iglesias","tag-dani-olmo","tag-david-raya","tag-dean-huijsen","tag-eric-garcia","tag-fabian-ruiz","tag-ferran-torres","tag-gavi","tag-joan-garcia","tag-jude-bellingham","tag-marc-cucurella","tag-marc-pubill","tag-marcos-llorente","tag-martin-zubimendi","tag-mexico","tag-mikel-merino","tag-mikel-oyarzabal","tag-nicholas-williams","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-pedri","tag-pedro-porro","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-rodrigo-hernandez","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-spain","tag-spain-world-cup-squad-yamal-williams","tag-unai-simon","tag-uruguay","tag-victor-munoz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}